Hiring attorneys who were previous prosecutors, previous law enforcement officers, or government employees:

At first glance, one might think it is a good idea to hire an attorney who previously worked for law enforcement or the District Attorney's Office. After 33 years (as of 2006) of experience, I have found this to be a large fallacy.

First of all, people who work for the government have an attitude that the government is "the cure and not the disease" and they actually think more government is good for us, as opposed to being a lazy anarchist, as I was described by one of my law school professors.

The only reason I would not advocate to overthrow the government is because 1) I swore allegiance to the Constitution when I became a lawyer and 2) the next bunch of crooks would not be any better than the ones we have now. In that regard, I can give you biblical references.

Attorneys that have been police officers or district attorneys, especially those who spent more than a couple months or a year working under the current Butte County District Attorney, should be highly questioned. Obviously their heart is not in the right place, assuming they could have had one in the first place.

The fact that they now intend to defend people for committing the same crimes for which they used to prosecute them or arrest them, especially in the case of DUIs, which they have probably done numerous times personally, leads me to believe they do not have the mind set to be defense attorneys.

As to those who have previous worked for the government, including public defenders who have made it a life occupation, I would suggest if you review their history, they undoubtedly tried private practice at one time or another, and were unable to be successful due to some moral, mental, or monetary reason. Therefore, I would question their credentials.

There is always, of course, exceptions to most every rule. These generalizations are my own personal beliefs. I have met some public defenders in the past, and I was one myself when I was a young attorney, and I have found some to be very vigorous and hard-working; however, one cannot handle 100 cases per day or per week, depending upon which jurisdiction they are in, and appear in front of the same Judge and same district attorney, with that big of a case load, day after day, week after week, or year after year, without either "burning out" or being put in permanent custody for properly representing their clients. If nothing else, nobody could spend that much time with the same prosecutor without either offering marriage, engaging in fisticuffs, or developing some other type of relationship.